Shannon Gasaway is the wife of House District 28 State Representative candidate Dan Gasaway. The opinions expressed in this letter are hers.
Dear Editor,
It’s time for another round of blistering ads from the Giles family, now that the redo of the redo election in HD 28 is on the horizon. Surely, you’ve heard of the Giles. They introduced themselves to everyone in northeast Georgia last May with their ads in the papers, their radio interviews, their Facebook posts, their “talk of the town” against my husband, Dan. They’d have you think I’m pretty much married to the devil. But they on the other hand are just “trying to be happy and be good neighbors,” according to their ads in this week’s area newspapers.
You’d think if they were so adamant about how horrible Dan is, they would just pay for their ads themselves. But follow the money. The Giles’ first round of newspaper ads last May were paid for by Rick Phillips of Toccoa. This Phillips is the same guy who took out all of those TV ads (spring, summer, and fall) against Brian Kemp during the Governor’s race, and almost got Kemp beat by Stacey Abrams. The current Giles’ ads are again being paid for by the Phillips.
“Through all of this I’ve realized that I have something uniquely in common with Marty Kemp, the First Lady of Georgia. The same man who tried to destroy her husband politically is trying to do the same to mine.”
You’ve got to wonder. What’s the connection between this Phillips guy and the Giles? There is much more here than meets the eye.
Through all of this I’ve realized that I have something uniquely in common with Marty Kemp, the First Lady of Georgia. The same man who tried to destroy her husband politically is trying to do the same to mine.
Over the past year, Phillips spent a tremendous amount of money on those efforts. And over the past year, Phillips has contributed over $10,000 to the Erwin campaign.
As far as the Giles’ allegations about Dan, anyone who has ever had a dispute with neighbors, and that’s a lot of people out there, will admit there are going to be two sides to everything. Anybody can take situations and events, especially with neighbors, sensationalize them, spin them, and conveniently leave out details in order to create a narrative that serves their purpose.
People who will do this can be very convincing, especially when they play the victim. Say it loud enough, say it over and over and over, put it in print, put some narration on a grainy video and plaster it all over Facebook. That must make everything you say true, right? No. It just shows the lengths you will go to in pushing your agenda, or the agenda of your wealthy financier.
Shannon Gasaway
Homer, Georgia
